Saturday, December 3, 2016

The Rural/Urban Divide Illustrated

As our map (above) of America’s voting patterns on a county-by-county
basis going back to 1952 makes clear, Mr Trump’s gains were concentrated
in rural areas across the northern United States. Republicans have long
held the edge in America’s wide-open spaces, but never has the gap been
this profound: a whopping 80% of voters who have over one square mile
(2.6 square km) of land to enjoy to themselves backed Mr Trump. As the
scatter plot below demonstrates, as counties become increasingly densely
populated, fewer and fewer vote Republican. American politics appear to
be realigning along a cleavage between inward-looking countryfolk and
urban globalists. Mr Trump hails from the latter group, but his message
resounded with the former. A uniquely divisive candidate, he is both
perhaps the least likely politician in the country to build bridges
across that gap and also the only one who has the capacity to do so.

I don't see Trump uniting the nation. I honestly think that the appreciation of civil government increases with the number of people one is surrounded by. Alternatively, based on farmers and business people I know, maybe the more government money you receive, the more you hate government.